source: leoheart
If you’ve been reading this blog for long you know my main passion in life is to raise my kids for the Lord. And some of you might think I just sit around all day and read Bible stories to my kids while we make elaborate matching crafts. Well, of course, that’s not even close to true. I struggle to think of good ways to impress my kids with God’s Word. And sometimes it’s not lack of creativity. Sometimes it’s the more personal, day-to-day things. Here are a few that stop me short…
1. Not planning ahead
This week our pastor said something that really stuck in my heart (and it’s about football, so you know how much it actually meant to me considering I barely know a football from a soccer ball): Most people spend more time planning their Fantasy Football team than planning their life.
Wow. I don’t do fantasy football, but I do like to plan birthday parties, blog posts and girls’ nights out. But when was the last time I sat down and PLANNED my life? How I’ll be a homemaker? A wife? A mother?
In order to impress my kids, I must plan it. If that means planning which verse we’ll learn this month or buying some craft supplies before we actually need them, I’ve got to plan how and when I’m going to teach my kids’ God’s Word. Or it won’t get done.
What can you plan today?
2. Doubting my ability
God has gifted me. He’s put thumbprints on me that are unique from Him to me. My gifts? To teach. To create. To make every day things point to God.
When I dismiss those gifts and brush them off as things I used to do for the “more important” job of full-time pastoral ministry or pretend to be humble about what God has done? I’m short-changing my kids. God gave me these gifts not to just give me a career–but to use them in my family. As a working mom, a stay-at-home mom, or any any between, we know our opus will be our kids. We must use our unique abilities to impress God’s Word on their hearts!
What are your unique gifts from God?
source: lupinoduck
3. Trying to be original
When I know I’m going to post something on my blog, I want it to be original. I want people to come to the blog and say, “Great idea!” not, “Oh, yeah, I saw that on so-and-so’s blog already.” But this can stop me from doing fun stuff with my kids! There are tons of great blogs, magazines and friends that have great ideas–and copying is ok! In fact, that is the purpose of THIS blog. I hope you DO copy some of my ideas!
You might not try to be original because of your blog, but you might try too hard to come up with things on your own. Don’t try to reinvent the wheel! God pours out ideas and creativity on everyone so that we can all benefit from it!
What great idea have you seen that you can copy this week?
4. Trying to imitate others
On the other hand, it’s easy to just copy people. And the problem here is when we think we have to be JUST! LIKE! THEM! My friend Kat, from Inspired to Action wrote a beautiful blog post called Motherhood & Identity: Comparison and the List You Need To Tape To Your Forehead and it’s about…well, about me. She loves crafty stuff, but she just isn’t crafty. And she realized–she doesn’t have to be crafty! She inspires her kids and impresses God’s Word on their hearts in millions of other ways every single day!
There isn’t ONE way to impress your kids. There’s just the ONE way God’s given you!
What one comparison to others can you let go of today?
source: richevenhouse
5. Letting other immediate things get in the way
I have great ideas all the time–make a craft! go out a field trip! memorize a verse! And then laundry, dinner, mail, lunch, showers, errands, house-cleaning, laundry, shopping, friends, facebook, blogging, chores and oh, laundry just get in the way. There are many immediate things that need to be done. But those immediate things are not always important. Don’t let the immediate needs of the unimportant take time away from your most important job–teaching your kids about Jesus.
What immediate need on your to-do list can you put aside today?
6. Relying on others
It’s easy to let parenthood’s main tool become the mini-van. We taxicab our kids to ballet to learn poise, soccer to learn athleticism, school to gain education, to playdates to learn sharing, to storytime to hear good literature and to church to meet God. And all that stuff is great when it is in ADDITION to what you are doing at home. We know PE isn’t going to teach our kids about healthy living as much as the food we eat at home. But we should also remember Sunday School isn’t going to teach our kids about God as much as WE WILL when we model God’s Word in our home.
Have you been relying on someone else to train your children in God’s commands?
7. No Interest
I started doing crafts with Lydia when she was around 2 years old. And she loved them from day one. Not only did she love them but she was obedient to every thing I told and showed her. She still loves to learn how to do new things. Asa, on the other hand, can barely sit still. He won’t repeat after me, he doesn’t like to look at things I want to show him. So, it’s easy for me to make an activity for Lydia and not think about Asa’s needs.
Your kids might seem disinterested in what you do, but guess what? It doesn’t matter. Your job is to impress your kids. Now, maybe you need to change your approach and find out what your kids like. But you can’t give up because they don’t like what you like!
Have you given up lately? Try again today!
source: sarahwampler
8. I don’t know what to do!
I usually find that when I am uninspired to do something with my kids about God’s Word, it’s because *I* haven’t spent any time in God’s Word. When I am reading my Bible, listening or reading to good Bible-based articles and books and meditating on sermons from church, I start thinking about fun stuff to teach the kids.
God will perk up our ears when our kids mention a hurt. He’ll remind us of a verse when we’re disciplining. He’ll show us a piece of our kids’ heart that needs love. We’ll always hear him quicker when we’ve been spending time with Him.
When was the last time you let God inspire you?
9. I just don’t wanna.
I’m too tired. I can’t get everything done. I can’t think of anything to do. The excuses are unending. I have a blog called IMPRESS YOUR KIDS and sometimes I just don’t WANNA!
Do you know the one thing that’s helped me the most with this attitude? Getting up early. Doing the #hellomornings challenge from Inspired To Action has changed my attitude. I get the ME time and the GOD time I need that in turn flows into time with my children.
What could unplug that NOT WANNA in your life?
source: shannonashley
10. What keeps you from Impressing Your Kids?
{This post was inspired by a talk from our pastor this week. Click to hear the whole series, Game Plan.}
Love it! Great post! Just what I need to get my butt in gear and be intentional about planning for my kids. I know we need to be doing this on a daily basis but I really want to sit down and plan how we are going to celebrate Thanksgiving and Christmas this year in a new way to glorify the Lord.
And you are sooo right about impressing our kids in different ways because each of our kids are different.
If each of us Moms benefit from reading this post….I can’t imagine how much writing this post has blessed you!!! You are a blessing Amanda!
Tricia, thank you! This post was definitely aimed at me and it helps sometimes to look at what we need to do differently. And you reminded me, I need to get crackin’ on Tgiving and Christmas, too!
a
Great, practical post! A timely word for me. I have always “impressed” my kids with the word “as we go”, but am just starting to get into being intentional with some teaching time. Thanks for the tips and encouragement.
Oh, the “as we go” IS the way to go! If we’re not doing it as we go, then the intentional extras aren’t going to have much to stand on!
And sometimes even the “as we go” stuff is hard. Sometimes I’d rather hide from discipline or cracking open my Bible to solve a problem w/the kids.
Thanks for the reminder!